Peace is every step
As regular readers will know, I try to follow a practise of mindfulness in my daily life. I was lucky enough to be introduced to mindfulness at the cancer support centre I attended and have been hooked on it ever since. Yesterday I had the beautiful experience of attending an evening talk and meditation with Sr Jina, the Abbess at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village community in France. Hahn( referred to as “Thay” “master; teacher”by his followers) is an expatriate Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist (Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967). I have loved the words and works of Thay since the day I heard his wonderful voice on a recording talking about how to find peace in our lives and our world, and his little book Peace is Every Step, is one I have read many times over.
Sr Jina’s talk was a beautiful reflection of Thay’s teaching and the highlight for me was a walking meditation we all did together outside. Our only light was from the moonlight and some small garden lights and the sound of our footsteps crunching on the gravel as we walked mindfully together, “kissing the earth”, as Sr Jina puts it, was an experience I will treasure for a long time.
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“kissing the earth” 🙂 put like that I’m kicking myself I missed it!
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Thanks for sharing this experience with us Marie.
As you know I have followed the same course in mindfulness as you have and I am starting to reap the benefits of more mindful living. I can recommend it to anyone, wether sick or healthy, working or not, young or old.
If you want to know more, go to youtube and look for Jon Kabat-Zinn. He is an inspirational teacher and can explain the essence of mindfulness far better than I ever could.
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Marie,
Thank you for telling us about this wonderful practice. I love both reading and hearing others speak about meditation. “Hooked on mindfulness” — that is a gentle and blessed way to live,
Love to you,
Jody
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Dear Marie, thanks for sharing this. I strive to practice mindfulness everyday but lately have struggled. I find myself in that place where I’m still recovering, still a bit angry and still a bit depressed. I use some meditation but have not been pro-active enough about it, only go to it when I’m ‘over the edge’. My goal is to get back to a place of peace. I am going to look for the book you mentioned.
Thanks for being you:-)
Love, Deb
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oh i wish i had known abt this talk 😦 would really have loved to have gone.
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sounds wonderful – and i love the description you give of the walking meditation – sounds like a special experience
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i am such a big fan of Thay – would have loved to have been at this talk too
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i love that little book Peace is every Step..
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